Birthday Wishes
by HecateA
Summary: In which somebody needs to be educated in the matter of birthday celebrations. Oneshot.


**In honour of Jason's birthday and to fill a request that asked me for some Reyna/Jason fluff. Also happy Canada Day to the Canadians. I am indeed wearing a red shirt and white shorts. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters shown below and I rewrote the before-last scene in Jason's PoV. **

**Dedication: Slytherin Sadist Angel who asked for Jeyna fluff.**

* * *

**Birthday Wishes**

* * *

"I didn't mean to spy on your mail," Jason said. "But I noticed that you got a birthday card from Seattle during mail call- from Hylla."

"So I did," Reyna said as she kept rummaging under her bunk. She'd been tossing and turning in her sleep and something of Gwen's had dropped from the top bunk. She was trying to put it back before Gwen noticed and started worrying about her.

"Is it your birthday?" He asked. She bumped her head on the bunk and stifled a swear word before backing up.

"Yes," she said. He was standing near the corner of her bed.

"Today?" Jason asked. "Or did I miss it?"

"Today," Reyna said getting up slowly. "And you wouldn't miss it- nobody celebrates it."

"Well then I would've missed fixing that," he said. He handed her a pack of jelly beans. "I couldn't find wrapping paper for your present, but there's a ribbon on it. Also I've been told that it's rude not to have a card but I couldn't find a nice one of those either. Hmm, that doesn't look so good now… sorry… Anyways, here you go."

"I think it's nice," she said taking it from him. "Thank you." She tugged on the ribbon and offered him a jelly bean before scooping some into her mouth.

"They good?" He said teasingly.

"The best," she said. That was the first thing he'd told her, back when they were strangers and he was trying to make friends. She'd told him that jelly beans were jelly beans, you couldn't really mess it up.

"So when's _your_ birthday, J?" Reyna asked.

Jason shrugged.

"I told you, you tell me," she said.

"I know, I know and I would. But… see, I don't know." Jason said.

"You don't know?" Reyna asked, stunned.

He shook his head. "I was a little kid when they brought me here, right? I didn't know."

"Lupa must know," Reyna said.

"Probably. But it's Lupa. How do you ask her something as trivial as your birthday without getting eaten?" Jason asked.

"True," Reyna said. "True."

* * *

They followed Lupa up from the dungeons and into the _principia's _main room.

_I assume that you are now comfortable with the location of everything, _Lupa said.

"Yes ma'am," they replied.

_Good. I'll be around Camp for the next few days, keeping an eye out on you as you begin your term. I'll be expecting those capes to be pinned better from now on, and for your hair to be kept clean and orderly as ever Reyna._

"Of course ma'am," they said.

_The legionnaires wrapped you in those capes pretty hastily, didn't they? _If wolves could smile, Reyna could swear that Lupa was doing it. _You know, I am glad that it was you they chose._

"Thank you ma'am," they said.

_You are expected to spend a full night camping out in the principia as part of your inauguration. My wolves and I will keep order outside in the meantime. _

"Will it be safe for the relief efforts to be pushed back until the morning?" Jason worried.

_I'd assume so, _Lupa said. _You two have done enough this afternoon. I bid you goodbye._

Jason held the door open for Lupa as she left, and it shut with a loud, echoing sound after.

"Can you believe it?" He asked her with an awestruck look on his face.

"No," she said. "Not really. We're _praetors!" _

Jason grinned. "I want to check out the dungeons again. Lupa moved too quickly and I didn't get a good look at the back cells. They haven't been maintained in ages, we might have to fix them up."

"Agreed," Reyna said. "I'll just stick around here for a second, okay?"

Jason nodded and the second he was out of sight, Reyna made a beeline for the filing cabinets in the back, hid behind one of the tapestries. She followed the appropriate alphabetical order to one in particular. They had files on every legionnaire in there. Surely no file was complete without…

Aha. She found it.

_Name: Grace Jason_

_Nationality: American (Assumed)_

_Parentage: Jupiter and Unknown Mother _

_Ranking: Centurion and Senator _

_Cohort: Fifth _

_Place of origin: Unknown _

_Age of arrival: 2_

_Place of birth: Unknown_

_Date of birth: 07/01/ 1994_

* * *

It was only on Friday that she found the time to sneak down to New Rome and make her way to that bakery he liked- Caelius' Baking Company.

Caelius was plenty happy to see her and he made a fuss to great her and announce to every customer that she was now a praetor of Rome. He was a very fond person who had known Jason since he was a kid, and had therefore loved Reyna since Jason had brought her over for a bite one day.

"What can I do for you today?" He said.

"I need a cake," Reyna said.

"I can do that," Caelius smiled. "What kind?"

"Do you have any dobos cake left?" Reyna asked. It was a Hungarian cake, sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel slices. Jason claimed it was the mortal equivalent of ambrosia.

"I would have made you some if I hadn't!" Caelius said. "I could make you a fresh one right now."

"No, no," Reyna said. "I don't want to be any trouble, and I need to be back at the fort quickly."

"Aha. Got it. Is this for Jason? That's his favourite."

"It is," Reyna nodded.

"Cake is on the house!" Caelius declared warmly.

* * *

She plopped it down on his papers while they were doing paperwork.

"What is this?" Jason asked. Reyna cupped her hands around the candles and lit them with the lighter she'd confiscated from a legionnaire earlier in the day.

"Birthday cake," Reyna said.

"It's not my birthday," Jason said.

"You don't know that for sure," Reyna said. Jason frowned. "I checked the files. Your birthday was on July 1st. We're not _that _late- not late enough not to have cake, anyways."

Jason gave her a weird smile. "July 1st, eh?"

Reyna nodded. "I couldn't find fifteen candles though, so you get three."

"The number of candles is the least of my concerns." Jason said.

"Well go ahead, Mr Unconcerned. Make a wish."

"I wish for the praetorship to go well," Jason said before blowing out his candles.

"Not out loud," Reyna said. "A wish only comes true if you keep it a secret. You jinxed it."

"Jinxed us?" Jason said. He laughed. "Not a chance."

"Alright. But next year keep it down. I'd hate for you to never pass your driver's ed or whatnot."

Jason laughed and Reyna felt strangely… satisfied. Sometimes it was the normal, vain things that mattered. And sometimes that was okay.

"Any other rule to make a wish legitimate?"

"You have to blow out all the candles in one breath," Reyna said.

"What? Nah, you're pulling my leg."

"No, it's true," Reyna said. "Or at least that's how my family did it. I'll go find some napkins to eat with."

"I think there were a bunch in that purposeless trunk in the back," Jason said.

Sure enough he was right. She sat down, used her dagger to slice a chunk off and hand it to him, and he laughed.

"What is it?" Reyna asked.

"July First... Nice." Jason said. "First day for the month named after Julius Caesar, you know?"

"Try not to get knifed, will you?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep my 33 best friends separated to keep stabbing out of the question," Jason said.

"Juno must have been _thrilled _on that particular sacred day," Reyna said.

Jason laughed. "Happy Sacred Day Juno, we got you adultery as a gift."

Reyna laughed.

"Caesar was a great leader, and Juno protects soldiers," she said more seriously. "It's auspicious, Jason. Happy birthday."

* * *

He winced, but knew that Piper would figure it out one way or another thanks to the cake's purple icing, and probably chew him out for not telling her. For some reason everybody thought that celebrating his birthday was important- as if he'd done something other than unwittingly show up.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He said.

"Jason!" She said with a smile growing on her face.

"There's too much going on," he said. "And honestly… before last month I didn't know when my birthday _was. _Thalia told me last time she was at camp."

Suddenly the memory hit him like a tidal wave- his fifteenth birthday with Reyna. Jason's memories were technically all there, but some of them were in the back of his mind and took forever to show up. See, he didn't remember _living _the moments but the memories were there to relive- another great technicality of Juno's. However Jason hadn't really had a chance to talk to Piper about Reyna or explain what was going on and how close the relationship between praetors was without necessarily being romantic. Now seemed like a bad time to bring it up and explain, so he kept his mouth shut.

"July First," Piper said. "The Kalends of July."

"Yeah." He had to smirk at the huge coincidence of it all. "The Romans would find that auspicious- the first day of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno's sacred day. Yippee."

He wasn't really in the mood to celebrate. It didn't feel like a birthday, it felt like the day of a battle. Celebration and conquest didn't go together in that order- not with celebration first.

"Sixteen?" Piper asked –which was a fair question.

"Oh, boy. I can get my driver's license." He said. It made Piper laughed, which in turn put a smile on his face.

"Well?" She said after a while of nothing. "Blow out your candles."

Jason did, and he made sure to blow out the candles in one shot and to not say his wish out loud, as to keep his wish jinx-free.

_I wish to be home in peace during my next birthday. _

* * *

His capacity to work was suddenly annihilated.

See, a cake was now on his paperwork. It was late August but there was still so much of it to do. Correspondence with the families of dead or injured legionnaires, building permits for the damages, bills to construction suppliers, treaties, certificates, battle logs… The cake wasn't really appreciated until he realised what kind of cake it was.

The Mortal Ambrosia, so to speak.

"Since I'm never going to catch you on your birthday, this seems like a fine tradition to keep instead," Reyna said. Her arms were crossed and she was holding a lighter and a bunch of napkins in her hand.

Jason smiled. Looked like saying your wishes quietly did make them work after all.

"Count me in."


End file.
